


an absence

by hiyoris_scarf



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Angst, F/M, i was sad so i wrote something sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-01
Updated: 2017-04-01
Packaged: 2018-10-13 13:49:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10515018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiyoris_scarf/pseuds/hiyoris_scarf
Summary: she was a creature of smoke and sunlight, her knives the teeth of some forgotten god.





	

“No mourners,” he had said.

“No funerals,” she had replied.

For some unknowable reason, Kaz had assumed Inej would die long after he did, or not at all. They were too much of each other–she was too much of _him,_  to make that last leap into the darkness.

“Kaz,” she said. There was a very slight warble in the vowel of his name, and he turned to her.

The moon slid between the clouds, catching on the escaping curls of her hair, the infinity black of her eyes. The short, silver handle of a knife jutting from beneath her collarbone.

Inej looked at him, and then she fell.

For some unknowable reason, Kaz had thought death didn’t apply to Inej the way it did to everyone else. After all, she was the Wraith. She was a creature of smoke and sunlight, her knives the teeth of some forgotten god. He had seen her bend gravity into impossible shapes, so he had thought she could do the same this time. Just once.

He caught her before the pavement did, and lowered her delicately the rest of the way. When she lay on the ground, he did not let go.

“You need a medik,” he said roughly.

Inej’s fingers fluttered uncertainly over the handle of the knife, and her chest contracted with sharp, uneven gasps. She lifted her neck slightly, eyes wide and uncomprehending as she stared at the wound. The small movement wrenched a cry from her, and Kaz flinched badly.

“Be still,” he ordered, aware of how uncaring his voice was, aware of how miserably obvious his fear showed. “Don’t deepen the–”

“Kaz,” she said again. This time it was only a breath.

Moon and shadow whispered over her, enshrouding her body, and illuminating it just as quickly. Kaz bent down, pulling her against him until he felt her quick, hot breaths on his throat.

“I want to be in the ocean,” she murmured. “Don’t let them put me on the Reaper’s Barge.”

Kaz’s throat closed off, and he shook his head. He would not let her melt away, or dissolve, or whatever the hell Inej Ghafa did in the dark that made her more spirit than substance.

“Kaz,” she entreated.

“I won’t let the Reaper’s Barge have you,” he growled. “Because, Inej, you are not going to die.”

Kaz had never seen Inej shed tears, and he still wasn’t sure if that was what she did now. It may have been that her eyes were simply too full of the moon to hold the rest of her.

After a too-long moment of hesitation, he slipped his gloves off and buried his fingers in her soft, untidy braid. He swallowed a wave of panic, and slowly tipped his forehead down to meet hers. His mouth barely brushed the skin between her eyebrows.

“You haven’t paid off your contract, Wraith,” he said.

Her lips spasmed upward, a ghost-smile. It was something.

“You really think I won’t follow you into the next life to get my dues?”

Inej laughed. For a wild moment, Kaz could think of nothing but how impossible the sound was. She could not leave him. She could not fly away yet. Her wings were not meant for this journey.

“I’d be disappointed if you didn’t,” she said. Her cool fingers reached up, combed through the soft, short hairs behind his ear, and he trembled with terror and grief.

_Not yet,_ he almost said. _Not you._ But by the time he opened his mouth, her eyes were empty, and as dry as the moon.

As usual, he had not heard her go. He just felt her absence.


End file.
